Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)
- Thread starter Guzrog
- Start date
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Asmadai
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- 3,240
- 9,360
I'll never get the complaints on the GCD - I mean sure it's slower than other games but why does everything have to be a comparison? If you gotta compare everything, use the time between abilities to appreciate everything else this game does right over the MMO you probably recently quit. Take a breath. I'm not sure when this mentality of "combat has to match the speed of my heart rate after I just snorted a gram of Colombian yeyo and chugged 3 pots of coffee" but it's ok to just take your time, and enjoy the ride.
I'll be honest too, right now most jobs on this game feel like they have more off-GCD cooldown abilities than the average WoW class does these days anyway. That extra time has a purpose too for some jobs, ie the ones with positionals. If I had to do positionals with a GCD akin to WoW....christ i'd have some insane case of carpal tunnel by now. That and my character would look like some spastic retard bouncing all over the place during a boss fight.
Just go into this game leveling up a new job without the expectations of a quick leveling up experience boosted all to hell and back like most MMO's do these days, and think of it as simply a right of passage until things get better, ala EQ, and you'll be fine.
Does it suck for a brand new person? Yes, if you have the attention span of a goldfish. There's so much beauty to the world that you should be appreciating instead of just focusing on a damn GCD timer.
Does it get better once you get closer to max level? Yes, but it's never gonna be as fast as (whatever game).
Is it worth it in the long run? Yes, a thousand times yes. If you can't appreciate the intricacies of how this game blends old content with new to keep things flowing for both new and old players, you're really selling this game short.
I've said it before, and though there's always gonna be disagreement on this point - I find the average quality of player in FFXIV hands down better than the average quality player you'd find in WoW. Maybe it's the slow GCD that makes weaker players quit early, maybe it's the rough opening level experience; who knows.
I'll be honest too, right now most jobs on this game feel like they have more off-GCD cooldown abilities than the average WoW class does these days anyway. That extra time has a purpose too for some jobs, ie the ones with positionals. If I had to do positionals with a GCD akin to WoW....christ i'd have some insane case of carpal tunnel by now. That and my character would look like some spastic retard bouncing all over the place during a boss fight.
Just go into this game leveling up a new job without the expectations of a quick leveling up experience boosted all to hell and back like most MMO's do these days, and think of it as simply a right of passage until things get better, ala EQ, and you'll be fine.
Does it suck for a brand new person? Yes, if you have the attention span of a goldfish. There's so much beauty to the world that you should be appreciating instead of just focusing on a damn GCD timer.
Does it get better once you get closer to max level? Yes, but it's never gonna be as fast as (whatever game).
Is it worth it in the long run? Yes, a thousand times yes. If you can't appreciate the intricacies of how this game blends old content with new to keep things flowing for both new and old players, you're really selling this game short.
I've said it before, and though there's always gonna be disagreement on this point - I find the average quality of player in FFXIV hands down better than the average quality player you'd find in WoW. Maybe it's the slow GCD that makes weaker players quit early, maybe it's the rough opening level experience; who knows.
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I think it's pretty obvious where the complaints come from regarding the GCD, and that's from the early game. By the time most jobs hit 30, it's less of an issue and significantly better by the time 40-50 comes along.
1-25 is very much: Press button1...wait...press button2.... wait. You brain is simply moving faster than the gameplay and it gets frustrating. I've played MUD's with more active gameplay. Also, the really simple PVE content at those levels doesn't help matters either. Add this onto the obnoxious ARR MSQ's and you get some really frustrated people. It's a miserable experience that makes one question why they're wasting their time on it.
A slower gameplay was exactly what I was looking for this time around so I didn't mind it too much, and now that things have sped up in the stuff I'm doing: I'm enjoying it quite a bit. But this is my 3rd go at the game and the first two failed attempts were largely influenced by how slow and janky the game felt due to the GCD/character movement that made it feel like a pile of shit compared to WoW. My opinion probably would have changed back then too, but I just couldn't put up with it long enough to return to WoW.
The sad part of it is that all the WoW refugees would probably kill for this game if they could see past the first hurdles. After you spend enough time to get through the initial slog: it becomes very obvious just how much neat shit is in the game and how much stuff there is to do.
1-25 is very much: Press button1...wait...press button2.... wait. You brain is simply moving faster than the gameplay and it gets frustrating. I've played MUD's with more active gameplay. Also, the really simple PVE content at those levels doesn't help matters either. Add this onto the obnoxious ARR MSQ's and you get some really frustrated people. It's a miserable experience that makes one question why they're wasting their time on it.
A slower gameplay was exactly what I was looking for this time around so I didn't mind it too much, and now that things have sped up in the stuff I'm doing: I'm enjoying it quite a bit. But this is my 3rd go at the game and the first two failed attempts were largely influenced by how slow and janky the game felt due to the GCD/character movement that made it feel like a pile of shit compared to WoW. My opinion probably would have changed back then too, but I just couldn't put up with it long enough to return to WoW.
The sad part of it is that all the WoW refugees would probably kill for this game if they could see past the first hurdles. After you spend enough time to get through the initial slog: it becomes very obvious just how much neat shit is in the game and how much stuff there is to do.
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Nola
Trakanon Raider
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- 1,430
100% this. My first job to level 70 was a DRK. Love the class especially coming from WoW as a DK. At level 70 and then being synced down to level 30 while having to run a dunegon with only level 30 abilities sucks ass. Certain skill defines the job and you won't have access to them until late game leveling. But after after a while I got use to it and made the best of it.
I'm not a fan of dungeon syncing but I get why they do it, to keep older content relevant. I wish olders dungeons scaled up rather you scale down for them so you can use all your abilities.
Anyone who wants to try this game give it a shot until level 80 when you have all your abilities. Yes at times it does drag on while leveling but once to Stormblood expansion it's much better. Get past the slower gameplay especially if you're coming from WoW. There is so much fucking content in this game it's unreal. So much to do.
Also I want that cactus mount you get from the gold saucer.
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Cybsled
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
- 17,234
- 13,773
The current low level ability issues were because of an ability prune/ability combine they did for Stormblood. They plan to do another one for the next xpac, but hopefully they take a look at the early game that gets impacted and smooths out the gain.
But ya, the GCD never really bothered me. At high levels it is pretty much a non-issue, plus you sometimes get a few skills that aren't tied to GCD that you can spam between GDC. Samuari is one...you can use Shinten between GCD if you want to maximize damage (provided you have enough kenki power).
One thing you have to give them kudos for is they go back and add little bits of details as the MSQ progresses. One thing I never noticed until Reddit mentioned, is some of the class/guild masters have updated lines to comment on their involvement with the current Scion situation. The sister of one of them comments on it as well. Most MMOs would ignore old zones, but SE does its best to try to keep things relevent even in the older zones when possible.
But ya, the GCD never really bothered me. At high levels it is pretty much a non-issue, plus you sometimes get a few skills that aren't tied to GCD that you can spam between GDC. Samuari is one...you can use Shinten between GCD if you want to maximize damage (provided you have enough kenki power).
One thing you have to give them kudos for is they go back and add little bits of details as the MSQ progresses. One thing I never noticed until Reddit mentioned, is some of the class/guild masters have updated lines to comment on their involvement with the current Scion situation. The sister of one of them comments on it as well. Most MMOs would ignore old zones, but SE does its best to try to keep things relevent even in the older zones when possible.
Kriptini
Vyemm Raider
- 3,683
- 3,574
They won't. This same thing happened in Heavensward. Remember Impulse Drive Dragoon for 15+ levels?
IMO the only way to start this game as a new player is to buy a level skip potion and then use deep dungeon to level other classes.
Is there some sort of unusual server setup with the game? I've seen a lot of talk about things like server ticks and there being some sort of built-in latency (that used to be 300 but is now 100?) and I know I've encountered many situations where my abilities aren't going off when they should be, and even having people die despite my heals landing on them up to and including the numbers popping up.
- 11,283
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Heals register weird in this game, there's definitely a delay to it so you want to avoid cutting it close. Pretty sure it's cause death is server side but the heal numbers are client side, so once your bar resolves it says "ok you healed that guy for x" but the server then says "ok that guy is dead" and you get both things which look weird. Abilities should go off fine. Server ticks are mostly for dots and stuff like mp regen ticks. They tick at regular intervals regardless of when you apply the dots, so sometimes they tick earlier or later. They changed some stuff so you get a regular amount of ticks but it's still kinda finnicky.
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You can also get tick screwed on some mechanics. During o12s, the final fight of this tier, theres some 2 second long magic vulnerability debuffs you get on you, and we've had people die because they hadnt fallen off them yet, but the rest of the group was fine.
Or things like AOE heals having a slight delay as they go through the group, where 2 of us will be at 10k, get healed for 5k and hit for 12k but 1 of us dies because the heal hasnt registered yet.
Or things like AOE heals having a slight delay as they go through the group, where 2 of us will be at 10k, get healed for 5k and hit for 12k but 1 of us dies because the heal hasnt registered yet.
sleevedraw
Revolver Ocelot
- 2,036
- 5,796
Possibly placebo effect, but I've found that messing with NIC options may help. Try to disable things that increase latency: Interrupt Moderation, Energy Efficient Ethernet off; Explicit Congestion Notification and Receive Side Scaling on. Messing with Nagling doesn't really seem to affect FF14.
If you're East Coast, you're kind of boned, because all the servers are in Fruitandnutland.
It's nothing on my end. For the most part, I get exactly what 100-120ms latency would feel like (it's what I get from my location) but often there are clear sync issues between the client and the server. For example, playing melee in a dungeon and running after the tank while they're pulling and I can attack something in the train just behind me, but not in front of me. Trying to attack the one in front initiates the attack like normal but stops shortly after like the conditions have changed despite maintaining the same distance while moving. Also, casting after stopping movement often fucks up because there's a sync issue making the server think I'm still moving when I start the cast. These things can be signs of lag, but I've been playing online games long enough to be able to tell when it's latency and when it's just bad communication between the client and server. None of it is bad enough that I won't play or anything, I'm just going to have to learn to adjust to its quirks.
I have ACT running now but probably need to tweak it a bit more and also get cactbot up and running for an overlay.
I was doing 3k-5k DPS on my BLM last night in 380 crafted and no melds yet. The variation was movement of the fights.
Am I way off target for gear? Close to doing well?
I was doing 3k-5k DPS on my BLM last night in 380 crafted and no melds yet. The variation was movement of the fights.
Am I way off target for gear? Close to doing well?
- 11,283
- 2,401
If full 380, way off, at least when near the 3k end. Although BLM is the one that you need to tinker with the most to get the best output on each fights, you have to know what's coming and how to use your cooldowns for forced movement(holding triple cast 5secs or using swiftcast and what not). And you definitely want to meld shit, if only the guaranteed slots.
Since my monk is also around that I can compare, using a Suzaku weapon(385 so slightly better but not much, but rest of the gear lower since it was like i375 average), I was doing ~5k on most omega normal fights. Not sure which fight you're parsing but I was fairly consistent on all of them I think, O2N is the worst due to all the breaks. BLM is like 10% higher than MNK and I'm not even doing the highest rotation because I haven't integrated TK stuff entirely yet. Since I upgraded to Seiryu weapon and got a bit better gear in other slots, I tend to be 5.5k in most fights now unless I die or whatever.
So yeah you'll probably want to make sure your rotation is what you're supposed to do, and then it's a matter of learning the fights to limit movement. Some skills you can just facetank, and some other phases you can move before the stuff during your triplecast window so you don't have to move later.
Lodi
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 1,493
- 1,519
My real gripe(s) with this game, other than the obvious weaboo shit, is the combat system and general class design.
None of the classes really leave me feeling all that excited in the way that other games have and the way their general skills work is pretty bland. The class fantasies are just so forgettable. I don't get that feeling like I do in WoW, when I Charge or Deathgrip something. No single spells or buffs really have any flare, beyond their visual variety(which, for me, lacks flourish).
It's hard to find the motivation to push a character forward when nothing about that character is particularly exciting. The real boon of this game just seems to be the sheer amount of stuff to do.
None of the classes really leave me feeling all that excited in the way that other games have and the way their general skills work is pretty bland. The class fantasies are just so forgettable. I don't get that feeling like I do in WoW, when I Charge or Deathgrip something. No single spells or buffs really have any flare, beyond their visual variety(which, for me, lacks flourish).
It's hard to find the motivation to push a character forward when nothing about that character is particularly exciting. The real boon of this game just seems to be the sheer amount of stuff to do.
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Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
- 18,651
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BLM and movement are cancer for your dps. If you can turret you should be doing more than 5k, if you have to move a lot it'll tank your deeps, though. a_skeleton_03 should find someone in the guild who has like 500+ clusters from A rank hunting all expansion to hook you up with some combat materia VI's for that gear
sleevedraw
Revolver Ocelot
- 2,036
- 5,796
lolwut
BLM and Fire IV.
PLD and Passage of Arms.
The list goes on.
This game has many weaknesses, but flare and visual variety are certainly not among them.